Chapter 5 – Nicole #2
The fact that mine triggered from a dead sleep, shooting me straight up in bed, proved that the ancient fight or flight instinct was buried deep inside after all.
Breathing hard, I scanned my room.
Something was off. My lizard brain screamed that the seemingly serene space was terribly wrong.
I slipped my hand under my pillow, feeling for the knife. It wasn’t there.
Shit.
Digging between the headboard and mattress would take my attention away from the lurking energy I felt. It crawled over my skin. The blood in my veins was laced with sharp pulsing adrenaline. Air filled my lungs in quick, shallow bursts.
A shadow whispered through the dark. It crossed the room from where it must have been keeping watch. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to spring.
The nightmare was a living, breathing whisp of flesh and bone. It quickened its pace, leapt the last few feet, and crouched on the foot of my bed.
I let out an unholy scream…and froze, consumed by fear.
Another plastic taper blinked on. In the cozy glow of the orange light, a true monster stared back at me. I couldn’t summon enough breath to scream again.
The grotesque face studied me, head tipping slowly from side to side in an animalistic move. My brain scrambled to process the vision, and common sense rose to dominate the primal drive. This wasn’t a real devil crawling out from the caves of the North Pole. This was a Krampus mask.
It’s him! Cristiano, the thief.
He was back.
But…was it my Tino? Wouldn’t that be a dark fairytale come true! The boy I crushed on hard as a teen, grown up into the delicious specimen lurking in the dark in front of me.
And just like that, the last pulse of fear gave way to a heavy burst of lust.
I needed to be locked up in an institution. Sane women didn’t have this overwhelming surge of arousal toward men who broke into their homes—especially when they came dressed as Santa’s evil counterpart.
To me, this was kryptonite.
I wasn’t going to play fair. The villain wouldn’t find a victim. I continued to feel behind me for the knife, not taking my eyes off the vile mask. The horns curved back over his head. The elongated chin bobbed. Behind the vile, twisted smile carved in the plastic, I sensed the man grinning at me.
“Looking for something, angel?”
I narrowed my eyes. The bastard lifted his other hand, holding my kitchen knife up to the glow of the candle.
“Bastard!” I spat.
Cristiano chuckled darkly. The sound sent a delicious skitter over my skin. It was the sound of velvet and sin.
“Can’t have you cutting yourself in your sleep,” he murmured. “If you want me to leave you a gun, I’d be more than happy to arm you.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll use it on you?” I pulled my legs out of the covers, positioning my body to leap out of his clutches.
“That’s part of the fun. Not knowing.” He tossed the knife on the bed between us. “Santa’s not the only one who makes lists. And you’ve been very bad.”
I scoffed. “Says the man who’s broken in twice.”
“Mhmm.” He was definitely grinning behind the mask. “You didn’t call the cops. You didn’t change the locks.”
“There’s always tomorrow.” With that, I sprang from the bed.
My thief was faster. He bounded after me, tackling me in the middle of the room. He caught me, twisting to take the brunt of the fall as the floor rose up to meet me. A vicious thrill shot straight to my core, and I struggled to push away.
Too easily, he rolled over me. The side of the plastic mask rubbed against my cheek. “I’ve dreamed of your desperate little moans. Those sexy sounds you make right before you come.”
I blushed.
Not that he could see the rush of heat on my face, but it was there. Physical evidence despite the dark. My face was on fire.
I tugged an arm free and tried like hell to escape his strong hold. “Let me go, you freak!”
Hot laughter escaped the mouth of the monster, brushing over my neck. “You don’t mean that.”
I didn’t.
But I’d be damned if I admitted the truth.
“You knew I’d come back for you, Nicky.” He pressed his body against mine, making the air huff from my lungs. “I found you, angel, and I’m not ready to let you go.”
It has to be him. My Cristiano.
This wasn’t the time for reunions, for catching up or talking about what happened in the years we spent apart. It was playtime. The thief didn’t come to steal gifts. He came to steal time—with me.
My pussy wept with joy.
Pulling my hair to expose my throat, he drug the mask against me. A predator, scenting its prey. “Tell me, angel, how do you want me to fuck you?”
A thrill raced through me. I got a say in it? Good grief, I wanted to be devoured by this monster, and I didn’t care how crazy that made me.
The fear had completely subsided. My body pulsed with a wicked, unrestrained rush of delight.
“You have to catch me first,” I growled, inching my other hand free.
The cocky laughter proved he underestimated me. “I already have. You shouldn’t have left the alarm system unlocked—again. Makes it too easy for me to come home for the holidays.”
That was because I didn’t like the stupid control panel.
“Oops,” I smirked.
And with that I smacked the side of my palm against his windpipe. At the same time, I tore the mask from his face. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but he reared back with a choking cough.
Dropping the mask, I bolted.
Flying down the hall, I jumped down the first few steps, catching myself on the banister. I wouldn’t call myself a particularly fit person, but I had enough drive to pull out a burst of athleticism.
Shooting across the foyer, I darted into the living room.
The monster was hot on my heels.
I rounded on him, debating where to go next.
The lights on the tree played over his inky, stealth clothing.
The cheery twinkle couldn’t dispel the image of the nightmare come to play.
From behind the mask, his dark chocolate eyes turned black as they watched me.
The man, the thief, was replaced by a predator.
I noticed fangs set in the nightmarish mask, and from this distance, they seemed to be real. Ready to shred me to bits.
Cristiano stalked forward. Reaching up, he rubbed his throat under the mask. A dark laugh rang through the room.
“There’s nowhere to run, angel.” Another step sent my heart hammering. “But I’ve come for my present, and what better place to take it than under the tree?”
I scampered around the ivory couch that was hellishly uncomfortable to sit on. Putting the furniture between us did little good. He lunged over the obstacle. It was nothing to the monster.
I let out a short scream that was both terror and delight.
My masked man chased me around the couch, and I zigzagged to escape his reach.
But he was fast. Wicked strong. I ducked behind a side table, but he shoved it over with a vicious force.
From the way it cracked on the hardwood floor, it likely broke.
I didn’t care. I ran with a gleeful smile on my lips!
But he was done chasing.
The monster wrapped a hand around my throat, tugging me back.
The move might have actually hurt, but he tempered the violence by snagging an arm around my chest. He spun me around.
My back slammed against the wall. His fingers adjusted to grip my throat with just enough pressure to let me know who was in charge.
Those pitch-black pools stared at me with pure hunger from behind the mask.
Cristiano might be pretending to be the villain of Christmas, but it was the man who was the real monster. No mask could come close. I wanted him to pull it off, to show me the beast behind the veil.
But maybe I wasn’t ready to see his inner demons unleashed. In this moment, the mask seemed more for my protection than it was to create the fantasy for my enjoyment.
I lifted my knee, intending to push him away and run again. With a swipe of his hand, he pushed it down.
“Such a naughty little angel,” he growled and leaned into me.
He pinned me against the wall beside the tree, lights flickering over his jaw. His body brushed against mine, and I sucked in a sharp breath at the feel of his cock. It was iron and thick, and it twitched greedily as he leaned his weight into me.
I wriggled, and when I couldn’t move, I let out a scream of frustration.
“Naughty, naughty angel.” He squeezed my throat. The feel of those fingers made my insides flip.
Capturing my wrists, one in each hand, he dragged me to the floor beside the tree. With complete ease, he transferred both wrists to a single hand and pinned them above my head as he kneeled over me.
“I watched you tonight,” he confessed.
I shivered. So, it wasn’t the tequila messing with my head. I should have listened to my body.
“I watched you wrap presents and pretend you weren’t waiting for me.” He palmed my breast, pinching the nipple with a vicious tweak.
I yelped. “Well! I didn’t get you anything!”
He laughed. “You sure about that?”
“Look, bud, I’ve been ordering nonstop from the internet. I think I would know if I grabbed a present for the man breaking and entering,” I seethed.
As I spewed venom in his direction, he’d pulled a red ribbon from his pocket. Straddling my body, he tied my wrists. The restraint was tight, but as I angled my head to look, I saw he’d made tidy loops to make it pretty.
The smile in his voice sounded like sin. “Every gift needs a bow.”
The devil! He didn’t want any presents. He wanted my surrender.
Well, the joke was on him; that wasn’t coming easily. I squirmed, nearly lurching from under his body when he rose slightly.
He only flipped me over. My breasts skimmed against the rug, but it was the flat of his hand landing across my ass that sent a bite of pleasure through me.
“How dare you!” I screamed.
“When you want to be on the nice list, let me know.” I could hear the smirk in his voice.
“Never!”
Naughty list for life, if this was the reward.
His hand swatted my ass in quick, sharp succession. Each blow was a sweet sting of pain that made my pussy clench.